Two Canadian teams advance to main draw at beach volleyball World Tour stop

BEIJING – Two Canadian teams scored dramatic victories in the second round of qualifying Tuesday to advance to the main draw at a $300,000 Grand Slam event on the FIVB beach volleyball World Tour circuit.

Josh Binstock and Richard Van Huizen, both of Toronto and seeded 21st in qualifying, defeated fifth-seeds Kevin Cès and Andy Ces of France 21-19, 32-30 in 54 minutes to earn one of eight spots for the main draw which starts on Wednesday.

Earlier Tuesday, Binstock and Van Huizen took their first round qualifier 21-15, 21-14 over 12th seeds Philip Gabathuler and Jan Schnider of Switzerland.

Meanwhile Christian Redmann of Toronto and Ben Saxton of Calgary also advanced upsetting sixth-seeds Clemens Doppler and Matthias Mellitzer of Austria 28-30, 21-19, 15-12 in 61 minutes, the longest match of the day in qualifying.

Martin Reader of Comox, B.C., and Chaim Schalk of Red Deer, Alta., were eliminated in first round qualifying.

In women’s qualifying, Heather Bansley and Liz Maloney of Toronto were eliminated in the second round and Kacie MacTavis of Toronto and Julie Rodrigue of Quebec City were ousted in their opening match.

Annie Martin of Sherbrooke, Que., and Marie-Andrée Lessard of Ville LaSalle, Que., have a bye to the main draw.